Influence

In the past, Earth's factions took a considerable amount of time to coalesce after the initial transmigration to Arthur.

In reality, the Earth faction had already taken shape the moment they transmigrated. It was just that it took one to two years before it could truly make its voice heard.

When the old powers arrived in the new world, they were of course unwilling to relinquish their authority and still wanted to wield their former influence.

However, they were no match for Arthur, a magnificent world with supernatural abilities.

Many players on Arthur, seeing the old forces clinging to power, simply packed up and left because they already had allegiances within Arthur.

The internal strife within the Earth faction only ceased when high-level players rose to leadership, quelling all dissent.

This process was, in fact, anticipated by many.

Setting aside their personal qualities, high-level players, after transmigrating and gaining powerful, game-like physiques, possessed intelligence for strategy, perception for observation, and charisma for leadership that far exceeded normal human levels.

Merely based on their attribute scores, they were already superhumans within the Earth faction.

Zhao Xu's decision to maintain his human racial attribute was partly for the future dominance of the Earth faction.

As long as he was among the top players from Earth at that time, he would definitely have a seat on the Supreme Council.

Whether it was Elves, Dwarves, or Orcs and Half-orcs, all these races had their own racial gods.

Only humans were born without a human god.

"Brother Xu, regarding the grand alliance, I don't think we'll even get close in the next month or two. Everyone is still too low-level to seize dominance in Arthur's factions," Zhang Qi said.

Zhao Xu nodded. In truth, players wouldn't be able to gain dominance for another year.

The first town truly dominated by an Earth faction would only be meticulously built later, after all players had transmigrated.

Arthur was not designed to serve players, so it naturally didn't indulge them.

After chatting with the others for a while, Zhao Xu went out for a run.

He basically spent every day playing the game Arthur while lying in bed or on a stool. If he kept lying down, his muscles would likely atrophy.

Although his current disability wouldn't be an issue, as his in-game body would be the standard after transmigration.

Still, he tried to maintain his energy levels. If he suddenly died from overexertion now, there would be nowhere to turn.

Zhao Xu and his academy's male and female students all lived in the North District. Beneath the rows of dormitories were tree-lined paths.

Zhao Xu was too lazy to go to the stadium, so he ran along the tree-lined path below his dormitory.

As he passed the convenience store, he crossed paths with several female classmates coming out.

Among them was Cui Lu, the most beautiful girl in their class, practically the campus beauty.

Since Zhao Xu had transmigrated back, apart from a brief glance at the classmates already in the classroom before class started, For the past half month, he had basically been dedicating all his time to Arthur.

Today was the first time in many years that he saw a girl he had a crush on during his university days.

However, he only gave her a fleeting glance before running past.

In his previous life, he hadn't pursued her after transmigrating, let alone in this life.

The university Zhao Xu attended was a comprehensive one, with many high-quality girls, and quite a few were adored as goddesses.

But these goddesses now had no idea that the gamers they looked down upon would later rise to prominence.

In Zhao Xu's memory, Cui Lu was very popular among the male classmates because she was bold in love and hate, and also good at games. She was also very popular throughout their entire grade.

Following the normal progression, she would have been the one her classmates inquired about, paid attention to, and reminisced about at future reunions.

After transmigrating, Cui Lu also lived her own vibrant life.

In his previous life, her archery skills as a Ranger were renowned, and eventually, the entire grand alliance was successfully integrated under her leadership.

Li Tiange, the academic star of their class, having transmigrated, felt they were of the same caliber and pursued her vigorously, attempting a powerful alliance, but ultimately failed.

After transmigrating, Cui Lu was very supportive of her classmates, and Zhao Xu himself had received considerable help from her.

Later, Cui Lu rose to a high position within the Earth faction, though she remained unmarried.

It could be said that Cui Lu, whether before or after transmigrating, was never someone he could aspire to.

Now, after transmigrating, Zhao Xu was interested in the grand alliance she would later form, which would span numerous universities in Bin City, but he had no interest in her personally.

He wasn't lustful.

"Lulu, see? That was Zhao Xu running by just now," a bespectacled girl next to Cui Lu said, shaking her arm.

"I saw him, what's up?" Cui Lu asked, not quite understanding.

"Everyone guesses that he must be a top-tier player. His roommate said he's in Arthur day and night. You've been wanting to create a departmental grand alliance based on the Class Guild recently, right? Someone who can dedicate themselves day and night like that must be a pro gamer," the bespectacled girl said.

"Hmph, don't mind him, Lulu. It's also too much that he never goes to class. I've covered for him a few times," the class monitor, Fang Xiyue, interjected. She was also one of the few outstanding girls in Zhao Xu's class.

Cui Lu agreed with the class monitor's words, but her peripheral vision kept darting towards Zhao Xu, who had already run far ahead. Her lively personality showed a peculiar emotion.

After finishing his run, Zhao Xu found a fast-food restaurant to eat, then went back to browse the forums until midnight before showering and going to bed.

When he logged into the game the next day, his spirit was once again refreshed.

He began his morning with meditation in the dormitory, preparing his Mage spell slots in under half an hour.

For the next few days, if he didn't use those spell slots, they would remain prepared on him, saving him the trouble of preparing them again.

However, if he had different ideas on the second day, he could also change the spells he had already prepared.

After finishing these preparations, he began poring over the troublesome religious scriptures.

Only after hearing the bell for morning prayer did he leave the Priest dormitory assigned to him.

Outside, many apprentice priests like himself were already gathered, bustling their way towards the morning prayer hall.

Zhao Xu had familiarized himself with the surrounding map the previous day, and he knew exactly where to go and how to get there.

He had now changed into a ceremonial robe and brought a scripture, looking quite the part.

Several apprentice priests nearby eyed Zhao Xu, this stranger, with curiosity. However, upon seeing his trainee badge and attire, they didn't suspect anything.

This group of apprentice priests saw people coming and going every day, and no one really knew each other.

Only the deacons responsible for managing these apprentice priests knew the full roster.

Upon arriving at the morning prayer hall, Zhao Xu directly found a seat and began his morning prayer.

The supervising deacon standing nearby glanced at him, confirmed his identity, and then paid him no further attention. Once enough people had arrived, the deacon returned to his own exclusive morning prayer hall.

The entire morning prayer hall was vast, with all three hundred seats filled. At the very front stood a statue of a goddess, four to five times the height of a person.

Sacred Heart Church had morning prayer halls for priests in each district, and the one Zhao Xu was in was exclusively for apprentice priests.

At this time, there were generally no special arrangements; priests would offer prayers to the goddess to obtain their Divine Spells.

The apprentice priests here, like Zhao Xu, were all in their first year.

Only when an apprentice priest obtained a Divine Spell and became a probationary priest would they be assigned to pray alongside the official priests.

This meant that within the morning prayer hall, most people were purely praying.

Only Zhao Xu was actually preparing Divine Spells.

Thank you all for your recommendation votes; your encouragement means a lot: Hedberg, Xie Ge, Xian Ji, Duskofdawn, Na Erxin, Xue Laofei, Haitian Yun, zzbbhh, Sang Tian 152, Wang, Huang Laoba, Handsome Enough to Shock the Party Organization, Moshang Ren Yu, Han Ba, Cheng Nuo De Shi Yan, Don't Know What to Call Myself, Chun Cui Wu Liao, Lavenz, Xing Kong Ye Xiang Qu, Da Da Da Da Shan, An Mo Xin, Tai Shang Tian Yang, Homework is the Teacher's Intention, Silent Squirrel and Pine Tree, Meat Shield's Heart, Flying Fish, Void Wing X, whwhsbsjsjs, Heard That Long Names Are Easy to Remember, Guang'an Red Bean Wedding, Shi Xia Liu, 2333333330, Yuan Shou zZ, Morning Light 111, Wu Xu Gong Zi, Qinling Muxi, ld You Ling, Al Reyne, Yong Bu, Jun Zi Shen Du Mo, 6 You Yi Lian, Li Hua Yue Cao, xiao Xiao Niao, Xin, Gu Yu Shi Ling, Ye Yue Liu Shang, Jue Lian Zang Shen, lyc2010.

And to all the book friends in the series (not enough space, so I can only list the last four digits of your account number, my apologies book friends): 9189, 6014, 1098, 4419, 8937, 5464, 6626, 1000, 0765, 8064, 0587, 5473, 1738, 3027.

And if I missed any of you, brothers, it was truly my eyes playing tricks on me. I sincerely apologize for not mentioning you.